


What You See Is What You Get

by Weevilo707



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Falling In Love, M/M, Memory Loss, kravitz meets the IPRE early
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 13:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19992964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weevilo707/pseuds/Weevilo707
Summary: When the seven of them came into this world, a whole laundry list of crimes against the order of life and death, Kravitz wasn't sure what to expect. When they disappeared without so much of a trace only to come back a decade later, Kravitz somehow felt even more lost. Especially at the stark way they had all changed, the way it was like none of it had ever happened.The one thing Kravitz had certainly never expected out of all of this was falling in love with the elf that had been so cold and jaded on their first meeting.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DarkrystalSky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkrystalSky/gifts).



It had been a rather uneventful day before it happened. Those weren’t too rare, even as a reaper with a rather busy job, there was still a decent amount of downtime that happened when you worked on the same issues for centuries. The time between bounties was spent in relative ease, mostly doing the more menial tasks to help keep the astral plane running as efficiently as possible.

That’s what he’d been doing when they arrived. Kravitz hadn’t known it, he had been sitting in his office, casually going through some of the paperwork.

Then the large book of bounties began to glow, opening on its own and flipping open rapidly to a new page. That happened occasionally, but never with this amount of energy. Immediately Kravitz stopped what he was doing, checking the book for the new bounties.

And okay. Okay, there had to be something wrong here.

Seven new bounties. That wasn’t the strangest part, about the right size for a decent small cult. And they were all obviously from the same cult or occult organization or something, despite their wildly differing charges.

At the bottom of the list, a man named Davenport, no given last name, with 6 deaths. A pretty heinous crime, but it was dwarfed in comparison by the others on this list.

Seven and eight deaths for the next two bounties, Lucretia and Taako, both no given last names, respectively. Then a man named Magnus Burnsides, 18 deaths. Those four alone could put records in the eternal stockade. The idea that a group of people had managed to hide so many repeated deaths from the astral plane until this moment was unthinkable.

The last three though. The last three were where Kravitz’s head started to spin.

Two liches. Two liches that hadn’t existed before a few seconds ago, as far as all of their records were concerned. One Barry Bluejeans and Lup, no given name. Each with 13 and 17 deaths respectively. The death counts combined with the lichdom would have set them at the highest bounties Kravitz had ever seen, if it wasn’t for the last person on this list.

Merle Highchurch. Merle  _ fucking _ Highchurch. Kravitz couldn’t help staring in incredulous disbelief at the bounty in front of him.

Fifty seven deaths. Fifty seven deaths, that according to all account had happened in an  _ instant. _

Absolutely none of this made any sense, and Kravitz was not going to waste any time getting to the bottom of it.

It took longer than he would have hoped, several weeks before he was finally able to find them. Kravitz had been looking in the usual spots, casting around dark caves and crypts with large concentrations of necromantic magic. Places low and cold and evil. He probably should have guessed that a group of bounties so odd would not have been in such a predictable place.

He found them in the sky, and that alone was befuddling enough. What took the cake was the thing they were staying in, some sort of flying ship. Kravitz had been around for a very long time, and he’d never seen anything quite like that before.

It wasn’t going to stop him from going right up there and figuring out what in blazes was going on.

There weren’t any magical guards, nothing preventing him from simply cutting a slice through the plane and walking right onto the deck of the ship.

“Oh shit, you guys are fast here,” a man standing on the deck of the ship said, not seeming fazed in the slightest by his entrance. Kravitz wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t a very casual man in blue jeans and a red robe barely bothering to push himself up from where he was leaning against the side of the ship.

Glaring at the man, Kravitz summoned the book, it flipping open to the right page and- there. Ah, this one.

“Barry Bluejeans, you have been charged with crimes against the natural order of life and death by her majesty the Raven Queen,” he started. Infuriatingly this man just  _ nodded. _

“Yeah, figured we’d have to talk to someone like you eventually. Uh, you want me to go grab everyone else? Merle and Luce are down at the planet right now grabbing some groceries, but they should be back soon,” Barry said. Kravitz found himself unable to speak for a moment at the sheer…  _ audacity _ of what was happening right now.

“The rest of your… cult, you mean?” he asked, and this man  _ laughed _ at that.

“Yeah no, not a cult. Eh, well, maybe technically I guess? Started a cult once, but that was totally unintentional,” he said. Kravitz stared him down, his arms crossed as he waited for this lich to get on with whatever his point was. “Okay, look bud, I get that you’ve got a lot of questions of us, and if we’re gonna be living in this world we should probably explain some shit,” he said, and Kravitz raised an eyebrow at that.

“This world?” he asked, because that wasn’t the first time he said something like that. The lich sighed, already starting to walk off towards the doors leading into the ship.

“Yeah it’s- you might wanna grab a seat. I’ll get everyone else,” he said, and Kravitz very pointedly did not sit down. He could hear Barry shout once he was inside “Hey everyone! Death’s here! Family meeting!”

Kravitz sighed heavily, resting his head in his hand and for the first time since he started his job as a reaper of the Raven Queen, wondering if maybe this was above his pay grade.

It didn’t take long for the rest of this ‘family’ apparently, to show up, although they did have to wait a bit longer for the last two who were down planetside. Kravitz expected a fight, but despite the fact that everyone here clearly knew who he was and what he was here for, none of them seemed that interested.

And then they began to tell him a story.

It was hard to believe. It would have been impossible to believe, if they didn’t have proof to show him. Items and books written in languages he knew were not from this world, that couldn’t be from this world. It had been a long time since Kravitz had been afraid, but as they described this force that had been chasing them, the hunger, Kravitz was worried. Scared of the idea of it coming to this world too. Of this place he protected and kept in order for so long becoming another footnote in a long list of casualties.

Except apparently that wasn’t going to be the case. They had a plan, it was decades in the making, and this had been the cycle they had managed to execute it. They had hid the beacon drawing the hunger to this world, and they would simply have to wait it out. The artifacts were already out there, and thus the world, essentially, saved.

It was all a whole lot to take in.

“Alright,  _ alright,” _ Kravitz said, resting his head in his hand once they had finished telling him everything. He didn’t know what to think, other than he was certain these people were telling him the truth. “This is- I cannot think of a situation that could be more appropriately described as extenuating circumstances,” he said, pushing himself up out of his chair.

He hadn’t intended to sit down during this discussion, but it had ended up going on for far longer than he expected.

“So like, we good? The whole death checklist wiped clean? Since it really wasn’t our fault,” the man, Magnus, asked, and Kravitz sighed.

“I’m going to have to talk to my Queen, but yes. I can’t- to say those deaths were out of your control would be an understatement,” he said, before turning to look at Lup and Barry. It was subtle, hidden underneath their living forms, but they were both still clearly liches, and the energy around them made Kravitz’s soul feel like it was crawling.

“You two on the other hand, we’re going to have to figure out something,” he said.

“Hey now bucko, I’m not sure if you were listening to all of this, but we already explained the lich thing,” the other elf broke in immediately, a defensive edge to his voice. Taako, he hadn’t spoken much during the whole meeting, in fact most of the time it was hard to tell if he was even paying attention.

“You did, and it was… it’s about the closest thing as I can think of for a  _ noble _ reason to become a lich. You have to understand though, that’s still not something we can allow out in the world,” Kravitz said, and he was trying to be sensible about this. His conscious wouldn’t rightfully allow him to lock them up in the stockade, but they couldn’t roam free either.

“We just saved your whole goddamn world! I don’t think you get to decide what is and isn’t  _ allowed _ here,” Taako snapped, and Kravitz was frowning now.

“Taako,” his sister cut him off before Kravitz could retort, a somewhat pained smile on her face as she put a hand on his shoulder. “Just relax bro, I’m sure we can think of something that everyone will be happy with, right reaps?” she asked, and Kravitz nodded.

“Of course,” he said quickly. Taako didn’t look very moved, still staring at him with distrust and suspicion. Instead of saying anything, he slipped out of his sister’s hold and marched right back into the ship.

“Just ignore him, he’s protective,” Barry spoke up after a moment.

“Hey, I thought that was supposed to be my thing,” Magnus said, which got a snort out of the other man. Kravitz nearly found himself smiling as well, before sighing deeply.

“Right, well as I was saying, this is all a lot to consider. I’ll need to talk to my Queen of course, but I think you can all be sure that you aren’t going to be spending any time in the eternal stockade,” he said. With that, he made a quick promise to continue to keep in contact with them and to keep them updated on what they would do about Lup’s and Barry’s situation, and then he left.

When he did come back, there still was not much progress on what was to do done about the liches. Kravitz hadn’t placed it quite at top priority though. He’d never seen liches so stable, and as long as they were in living bodies, it wasn’t exactly an urgent matter.

What did seem to be somewhat more urgent was the wars that had started sprouting up across the world. They had described the relics to him, had said they would be immensely powerful, but he hadn’t- Kravitz hadn’t expected this.

This time when he went up to that strange floating ship, he was met with Taako. Which honestly, wouldn’t have been his first choice. It was clear that the elf was not exactly fond of him.

“Oh hey, you’re back,” he said, not bothering to look over from where he was staring off the side of the ship down at the world below. Kravitz only needed to glance down off the side for a moment to see what he was looking at. Some other battle raging below, he could feel the deaths piling up.

“Yes, it’s- this isn’t about your sister and Barry,” he said, hoping that maybe getting that out of the way would put some of the sharp edges the elf had towards him down.

“You even got a point being here then?” Taako said, and okay, apparently not.

“I wanted to talk to all of you… about, well,” he said, and he gestured down towards the battle. Taako sighed, still seeming more annoyed than anything.

“What about it? We already told you the deal,” he said, and Kravitz knew that was true. He had heard the explanation as well as the warning, and he understood death. As far as he was concerned, death wasn’t the end. The hunger that was coming,  _ that _ would have truly been the end. So he had approved. But it was still…

“I just… hadn’t expected it to be so  _ much _ ,” he said, which at least finally got the elf to turn towards him. It was strange, he and his sister looked so similar, but if Kravitz had to guess on looks alone which was the lich, he would have picked Taako. His stare was so much colder, so much more detached.

“Yeah, you can say it took us all by surprise, okay? But what can you expect from some super powered ball of light that can create worlds,” Taako said, and that was a bit of a surprise. Kravitz hadn’t realized they had all been caught off guard by the powers of these weapons as well.

“I mean, maybe there’s something we can do? To help mitigate the damage done? If this is more than you all expected, maybe we can-” Kravitz started to suggest. Taako cut him off though, not looking interested.

“That ain’t how it works. We just gotta let it go, let this shit run its course until the hunger ain’t a problem,” he said, and Kravitz felt himself deflating somewhat at that.

“Surely there’s something,” he tried, but Taako shook his head.

“There isn’t. We made a choice and now there’s nothing we can do but live with it,” Taako said. Kravitz wished he had ended up talking to anyone else about this, but there wasn’t much he could do about that now.

“And you’re just… fine with this? With watching things like  _ that _ happening every day?” Kravitz pressed, and Taako glanced back down at the battle still waging, before shrugging.

“Yeah,” he said, and Kravitz could only stare at him incredulously.

_ “How?” _ he asked, because it wasn’t like Kravitz hadn’t seen devastation and hardship throughout his long undeath before. This was something else though, and he couldn’t understand how someone could be so callous.

“I mean, at some point you’ve seen enough people die that you kinda just have to focus on other things,” Taako said, and Kravitz couldn’t help scoffing a bit at that.

“You do realize you’re talking to  _ death,  _ right? Or well, an aspect of it,” he asked, and Taako just shrugged.

“Yeah, of  _ this _ world. I’ve left 99 versions of you in the dust before stepping foot on this plane. Trust me, you get used to it,” he said, finally pushing himself off the railing he was leaning against. “Anything else you were needing my dude?” Taako asked, and Kravitz slowly shook his head.

“No, I suppose not,” he said, and without another word Taako turned and walked back into the ship.

Kravitz visited the ship a few more times after that, but mostly to check the status of how everything was going. Apparently they couldn’t be sure the Hunger wouldn’t arrive until a year after they had appeared, so Kravitz had decided to wait until then to make any official decisions on Barry and Lup’s status as liches.

He didn’t run into Taako often, but when he did it was all that same uncomfortable tension as before. It was almost a shame, because there were small moments where Kravitz would see him talking to his sister or one of the other crew members. Moments where that hard shell seemed to crack and Kravitz would see a truly pleasant person underneath. They never lasted long though, and they were never directed at him, or even at the world.

Kravitz pushed it aside, because there was no need for him to be friends with or even  _ like _ all of the people on this ship.

A year passed, and the world didn’t end.

The next time he went to check it, it was as though the world might as well have, with how the crew was acting. Kravitz couldn’t even say he didn’t understand why, when he found out what had happened.

Lup was gone, and no one could find her anywhere.

Kravitz tried to help, after all it was sort of his job. A part of the reason he’d been coming back here  _ was _ to keep an eye on the two liches. He couldn’t just have her running around Faerun unsupervised.

That was the formal reason for trying to help at least. Despite everything, Kravitz had actually become quite fond of Lup in the time he’d known her. He felt like that was not an unusual thing either.

Any hint of that kind person Kravitz had seen in Taako was gone now. The man cold and closed off and so very  _ tired. _

He really did try to help them find her.

And then one day, maybe four or so months after Lup went missing, everyone else did too. He tried to find the ship, any sign of where the others might have gone to.

The only thing he  _ did _ find was the corpse of one Barry Bluejeans. That was concerning, but not as much as it would have been for any of the others. After all he was a lich, it would take much more than that to get rid of him entirely.

There was no sign of the lich though, and everyone else was just…  _ gone. _

Kravitz didn’t know what to do, but immediately after that the wars had just… stopped. Sightings of the relics were few and far between, and they still drew casualties but nowhere near the destruction that had been before.

He didn’t know what they had done or where they were now, but it seemed to have worked. It wasn’t perfect, but the world still existed, and it was- it was  _ manageable. _

And as strange as it was, Kravitz had other work he had to attend to. He couldn’t put all of his effort into finding seven people who seemed to disappear off the face of the world.

There didn’t seem to be much else he could do but more forward.


	2. Chapter 2

It was ten years before he saw any of them again, and when he did it was by complete happenstance.

It had seemed like, well not an average bounty for sure, but not a particularly dangerous one either. Just someone a little too smart for their own good who thought their situation was somehow unique and deserved to be made the exception. The only truly frustrating part was not being able to simply open a rift up into the room the bounty had locked himself away in, some sort of magic preventing him from conjuring one.

So, Kravitz had figured he’d start from the outside of the lab and make his way through the old fashioned way. As a giant crystal golem.

Except when he first appeared, he saw three faces that genuinely caught him off guard. They were slightly older now, but it had been nearly a decade so that was to be expected. None of them seemed to recognize him either, but also, he was currently a giant crystal golem.

To his surprise, Taako was the first one to speak. He was smiling in a way that was supposed to appear casual, but betrayed his nerves, and he seemed so much more… relaxed, than Kravitz had ever seen him before.

“Hail and well met! My name is Taako and you look like you’re made of salt,” he said. That was just about the strangest thing Kravitz could ever remember Taako saying.

Kravitz took one look at the three, still watching him with suspicion, and another at the door that lead further inward. He had a bounty to get to, but they had to be here for a reason too. Maybe it was for the same reason. They’d given him a rundown of the relics that they’d created, and looking around at the crystals making up everything in this lab and the strange suits the three were wearing, it reminded him of one. Taako’s, if he wasn’t mistaken.

And more than anything, Kravitz wanted answers. He wanted to know what had  _ happened _ to them all those years ago. Why they had disappeared off the face of the earth, where were the others now, if they’d ever found Lup.

Making a final decision, Kravitz exited the golem form, the three jumping back as the giant shards crashed to the ground. He summoned his construct, being careful not to touch the ground or any of the rocks, just in case.

“Oh  _ fuck, _ geodude’s hot!” Taako blurted out, and Kravitz couldn’t help the flustered expression at that.

“Are you an  _ angel?” _ Merle asked, wonder in his voice. Both of those reactions were… not what he was expecting. He found himself turning towards Magnus, looking for any sign of recognition.

“Wait, I’m confused. Are we rolling for initiative or not?” he asked, and okay, something was definitely wrong here. Kravitz sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“No, were not. What in the world are you three  _ doing _ here?” he asked, and there were a lot of things he wanted to ask but that was the one that came out first.

“Uh, did Lucas send you out here to help us? Or uh… unhelp us?” Magnus asked, and Kravitz frowned at that. Okay, so they did know the bounty he was after.

“No, I am here to obtain Lucas under changes of violating the laws of life and death by breaking his mother out of the astral plane,” he explained. In turn he got three very blank stares.

“So you’re… a cop?” Merle asked, and this was getting way too strange.

“Do you three- do you seriously not know who I am?” he asked, a part of him feeling almost… hurt? By that. It had been over a decade ago, and he certainly wasn't around often. Still, he liked to think he made some sort of impact.

“Well now I feel like I should,” Magnus said, and all three of them looked equally confused.

“Can’t say I do homeslice,” Taako added, and Kravitz sighed. None of this was making any sense, but they didn’t have the time to figure it out now. He told himself later, they would figure this all out later, once Lucas was dealt with.

“Well, I guess the only thing that matters at the moment is that I need to get to Lucas. I would prefer it if you three would stay out of my-”

“Hey, who are you guys talking to in there? I heard my name?” a voice from a stone of farspeech Kravitz hadn’t noticed before started speaking.

“Your mom! Not now Lucas!” Magnus shouted back, quickly covering the stone.

“Well that’s rud-” Lucas started before getting muffled. Kravitz sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair.

This was going to be a long night.

He was right about that of course, but on the bright side none of them seemed particularly against letting him apprehend Lucas. The situation did not end up being so clear cut though, and at the end of it Kravitz had reluctantly let Lucas as well as a spirit named Noelle stay.

Throughout all of it none of them seemed to recognize him at all. They didn’t explain what they were doing, gathering the relics back up. Kravitz wanted to say something, to ask what was going on, but instead he found himself carefully talking around the issues.

They all seemed to different now. Happier. Maybe it was dumb of him, but he almost didn’t want to say anything and ruin it.

So instead he made some deals, told the three he would be keeping in touch, and left to clean up the rest of the mess caused by Legion. Now that he knew at least a few of them were still out there, Kravitz found himself wanting to look into it all more. To just see for himself instead of asking and jinxing everything.

He didn’t end up getting to look long. It could have only been a few months before he had several new charges in his book. Magnus Burnsides, Merle Highchurch, and Taako, three names he was very familiar with by now. They each had a grand total of 11 new deaths next to their names.

Plus, pages upon pages of thousands of new deaths, all for a small town. It was bizarre, and Kravitz had no idea what could result in such a thing.

But he knew exactly who he needed to talk to to find out.

After the lab, Kravitz had managed to finally figure out where they were staying. That strange second moon that had gone up a few years ago. Honestly, he should have known that had something to do with them.

Waiting in the dorm room for them, Kravitz couldn’t help but feel some apprehension when Taako came into the room alone. He’d always been the most difficult to talk to, even if he seemed to have relaxed considerably over the last decade. Kravitz still wasn’t sure what was up with that, but instead of the cold stare as Kravitz spoke he got a nervous, lopsided smile.

He really did have a lovely smile, Kravitz had never gotten a chance to appreciate it before.

“None of you are in trouble, at least not yet, but I do need to know what happened down in Refuge,” Kravitz said as they sat. Taako nodded, and despite the exhaustion seemed almost eager to tell him.

“Sure thing, but uh, first things first, how much do you know about the grand relics? Just for background?” Taako asked, and as far as Kravitz could see it was an earnest question.

“I know about the relics,” he said, and he couldn’t quite bring himself to ignore it anymore. “You really don’t remember me?” he asked, which got a look of confusion from the elf. Earnest and a little worried even.

“I mean, from the lab, for sure? Otherwise I don’t really got a clue what you’re talking about, sorry babe,” he said, and Kravitz attempted not to look too disappointed by that. It was concerning, but Kravitz had no idea what he was supposed to do about it.

“Well, maybe that’s for the best. I don’t think we quite got off on the right foot last time,” he sad, reluctantly letting it go. As much as he wanted to make sure everything was okay, it wasn’t really his place to pry. He wanted to find Lup, as well as Barry now. He had a duty too of course, but he was also just… worried about them.

Taako had her umbrella at his side, and he had never once spoken a word about her. He was almost afraid to bring her up. If… if something had  _ happened  _ to Lup, he didn’t want to reopen that wound. Taako for the most part seemed genuinely happy, and Kravitz found himself not wanting to break that.

He liked seeing Taako smile.

Their conversation did not last as long as Kravitz would have liked, feeling a pull from his queen. Taako hadn’t quite managed to explain the whole story, but honestly Kravitz knew enough that he could excuse everything that had happened in the town as extenuating circumstances due to the relics.

Despite that, Kravitz still found himself hooking up their stones of farspeech. At the very least so he could tell Taako for certain that everyone was in the clear, and it wouldn’t hurt to have it in an emergency.

Taako calling him up to ask if they could finish their discussion, and then suggest meeting up at a place called the  _ Chug and Squeeze _ probably didn’t count as an emergency. Even still, Kravitz found himself accepting.

The night ended up being nice. It was  _ really _ nice. They talked some more about refuge, but it was mostly a formality and didn’t last particularly long. As far as Kravitz could tell Taako hadn’t expected it to. Kravitz could have left after they had finished talking about it, but he didn’t. He was having fun, and Taako was… he wasn’t an open book, but he wasn’t anywhere near as closed off and jaded as he used to be. He so clearly cared about things, and Kravitz found himself a little stunned as Taako actually let down some of his walls.

Kravitz was almost scared as he found himself falling for Taako. For the person he could actually see of him now.

And for his part, Taako actually seemed receptive.

“Taako it’s- I gotta know, was this call for business or pleasure?” Kravitz asked as their… whatever this was came to an end. Taako grinned sheepishly at the question, not actually seeming too bothered.

“A little bit of both,” he said, and Kravitz laughed as he continued. His attention quickly drifted as he started to feel something though, something old and undead and- and strikingly  _ familiar. _

“There’s something here,” he said, holding off on changing into his reaper form yet.

“I feel it too!” Taako said, and well, if Kravitz had doubts about Taako’s intentions before those were gone, but he tried to stay focused on the feeling. It was just barely there.

“No, not that. This is something undead, and powerful, and…” he trailed off, staring at Taako. He looked mildly concerned, but there wasn’t anything else. There was no terror or hope, nothing Kravitz would have expected.

“You- you haven’t seen Lup or Barry lately, have you?” Kravitz finally asked, figuring he might as well take the leap now. Before anything with Taako got too far.

The reaction he got was both one he hadn’t expected and the one he’d been fearing the most. Taako didn’t look upset or angry. He just looked confused.

“Who?” he asked, and after a moment there was a small flash of recall, but nothing to the amount it should be. “Wait, Barry Bluejeans? Eeeeh, no, and uh, last time I did see him he wasn’t doing too hot. Or uh, was doing way too hot, actually,” he sad, and Kravitz honestly had no idea what to say to that. He didn’t understand how Taako could just…  _ forget them. _

“Right,” he said finally, taking a breath. “I need to go check this out, but I’ve- I’ve had a lovely evening,” he said, and Taako grinned apparently over the question already.

“Yeah, me too for sure!” he said, and Kravitz found himself smiling at that. He probably shouldn’t push things, there was obviously something…  _ wrong _ with Taako. He should stay out of it.

He didn’t particularly want to though.

“Will I be seeing you around?” Kravitz asked instead, getting an excited nod from Taako.

“Yeah, I mean, unless I die I guess… actually, that’s the best excuse I have. So yes you will definitely be seeing me again, for sure,” Taako said, and Kravitz couldn’t help laughing at that.

And he did end up seeing Taako again. Quite a bit, and thankfully none of the times being because of his death. Maybe it was wrong of him. If he hadn’t cared for Taako the first time they met did it make sense to care for him now? To date him?

He tried to bring up the past a few times. Just little things here and there, but they never got anymore than a blank stare from the elf. It didn’t make any sense, and Kravitz had no idea if he should try to push further. The last thing he wanted to do though was bring up memories Taako would rather just forget.

Somewhere along the line Kravitz had fallen in love with Taako, and he didn’t want to see him hurt. If that meant letting him pretend a century of torment hadn’t happened, he would play along.

Maybe Kravitz should have known it wasn’t pretend. He should have realized that no matter what else Taako would want to forget, Lup would never have been one of them.

He was trapped in the astral plane when he realized just how wrong things had gone. Just what had happened as the story was instantly broadcast across the planar system.

There wasn’t anything he could do now either. He’d realized what was happening before the story had been broadcast, but he hadn’t understood why. The hunger was here, he could remember the way they had described it, coming in and choking the planar system in its search for the light. He managed to fight his way out, lock himself into the eternal stockade where he was safe for the time being.

He didn’t understand how the hunger had managed to find them after successfully hiding for so long until the story hit him. Until he heard about Lucretia’s plan, realized exactly what was happening when they gathered the relics.

There wasn’t anything he could do stuck in the stockade, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to keep trying to get out. He found himself making a deal with Legion, because he needed to get out, he needed to get back to Taako.

Taako.

He’d forgotten everything. It wasn’t his choice, the memories had been  _ taken _ from him. Warped him into another person.

His memories had to be back now. He was sure to be  _ himself _ again. Which… was good. For him. Kravitz told himself it would be wrong, terrible of him to be upset over Taako getting his memories back. And that wasn’t it. It was just…

If he managed to make it out of here, Kravitz wasn't sure he was ever going to see the person he’d fallen in love with again. It was selfish,  _ he _ was being selfish.

But the thought of Taako returning to staring at him with those cold eyes and disinterested frowns hurt.

Kravitz tried to put that out of his mind for now. He couldn’t really, but he could at least try and put his focus on other things. The world was ending, absolutely none of this would matter if they couldn’t figure out some way to fix it. And no matter what, Kravitz wanted to be over there to help.

He still loved Taako, even if he doubted that Taako would still love him.

The change was sudden and disorienting. One minute he was desperately trying to tear his way out of the astral plane with Legion at his side, the next the ground below him was turning to sapphire, and then he was through that sapphire and on the prime material plane. The spectral forms of the city of Phandalin rising up around him.

And kneeling at the edge of it was Taako, power swirling around him, his face somewhat obscured as he leaned over. Then he looked up, meeting Kravitz’s eyes, and he couldn’t tell  _ what _ he was thinking.

“How- how did you  _ do _ that?” Kravitz asked, a disbelieving laugh escaping him. He wondered if Taako had even meant to save him, or if it had been a coincidence.

Kravitz didn’t know what he expected. If he thought Taako would answer him coldly, or turn away, or simply put up with him as they figured out how to save the world.

Somehow, he didn’t expect Taako to dash to him at the center of the circle, throwing his arms around him and pulling him down into a kiss before Kravitz could process what was happening.

When he pulled back, Taako was grinning, his eyes shining and his whole face so  _ warm. _

“Short story- long story short, I was rad, natch,” Taako said, which didn’t explain anything, although Kravitz didn’t particularly mind. Taako looked like he was going to continue, but Kravitz cut him off.

“You still love me?” he blurted out, not entirely meaning to. Immediately Taako was frowning in confusion, looking somewhat hurt.

“I- yeah? Not real sure why you think that would… stop,” he said. If Kravitz had been worried about his own feelings fading before he wasn’t anymore, because seeing Taako worried like this was making his hear ache.

“You just never seemed particularly… fond of me, before. I was worried that, now that you’re  _ yourself _ again, you might have reconsidered,” he said, figuring the best he could do was answer honestly. That got a somewhat sheepish look from Taako.

“Yeah, I was kinda a dick, wasn’t I?” he said, and Kravitz could see there was something else he was debating too. Then, he made a quick motion, and his face changed, a glamour Kravitz hadn’t realized he had up before fading. “Might as well just get it all out there, right? I had a bad run in with a couple of liches, so yeah, not really much left of the dude you thought you were getting. So if all of this… changes… anything, I get it,” he said.

Kravitz found himself staring at Taako for a moment. He could see differences, although honestly the physical ones were the least of his concerns. He was different, but he was worried, and Kravitz could see that.

Taako wasn’t closing him off. He wasn’t losing him, and that was the one thing Kravitz had truly been afraid of.

“I love you Taako, and as long as you’ll have me, nothing is ever going to change that,” he said, leaning in for another kiss, which Taako happily returned.

It didn’t get to last long, because the world was still ending. There was still so much left to do and so much left to fight. Lup and Barry were back too though, and Kravitz had thought he’d seen Taako happy when his mind had been wiped. That paled in comparison to the joy and determination he saw in Taako when he looked at his sister, when he promised they’d see each other again after they saved the world.

And Kravitz had no doubt that they would see each other again, and he couldn’t wait.

He loved getting to see Taako smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was a request for darkrystalsky that was a lot of fun to work on! I really love the concept of Krav meeting the whole IPRE crew early and how that would affect things so this was a fun way to explore that.
> 
> as always, thanks for reading and i hope you enjoyed!


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